Video-Photos Recap-Barnstead, Bernie, 3500 Events Around The US, And Me By Kyle Leach

Thursday, July 30, 2015

More than 100,000 people had RSVPed to participate in 3,500 parties
in houses, living rooms and coffee shops and any other place they could find by the time I registered for one of the local events. The campaign said last night it is the biggest online organizing event of the
2016 campaign so far. That's grass roots; that's very 21st century.

We were able go to the Bernie organizing event in Barnstead yesterday evening.
There were about fifty to sixty people at that event. The opening speakers were wonderful. Bernie's speech
via video was short, but very inspiring. You can see a version of it above. I'm not going to spend time going over his philosophy; it has stayed the same over his lifetime. Not many of the other candidates can pass that test. His record of decades of activism and public service mirror his current campaign platform for president and you can find that on his website.

Though I love his platform that includes fighting income inequality, addressing the unequal tax structure, workers rights, universal healthcare, free public college, getting money out of politics etc., I
was most heart warmed by his comments in the video about Sandra Bland's
murder and the structural racism which permeates all of our culture.
We don't talk about this in our culture. It's a message he thought was important enough to make several points
about in his short speech and something that needs to become part of our everyday thinking moving forward. No other candidate has addressed this in anything but vague
talking points and that is why it meant so much that he did include it in his organizing speech.

He also talked about climate change. That portion isn't in this live vid. He spoke not in the abstract way that many candidates speak of it, not in terms of solely talking about green energy. Those are easy ways to make people think you will do something, no, he spoke in terms of the massive changes our world will see, the large scale problems our societies will face. The truth is hard to face, but face it we must.

I also really liked a comment that he made that the United States does
not need to think small; we have the resources and manpower to think and
do big things. That resonated with me because too often in our world
people are convinced by the establishment that we are small and don't
have any power at all. The truth is that the people of the world hold
all of the power. We just need to find the courage to use it.

Bernie has a compelling, often radical vision, which differs greatly with the rest of the presidential field. That scares the establishment. That's very important. He is in the 21st century looking ahead at both the problems we have to face and solutions we have to build. Our people are our strength. Not the media and talking heads. Not polls. Not talking points. Not messaging. Not stop gap measures to get bodies in to vote.

Moving
forward in the coming elections I hope Bernie's philosophy will pull more people in and build a stronger, consistent
base for Democrats. People just need to feel that you have their back. They need to feel that they are not being used. Then people will fight for you with everything they have. It will make us stronger, more connected; it will give us a
voice and give us a more universal purpose. With no strings attached, very little to stand in our way, we could build just about anything. That's what this meeting was about. Us. That was loud and clear.